MCKINLEYVILLE — After a hard-fought, emotional and exhilarating 27-20 win over the Eureka Loggers in the Northern California 3-A Championship, Troy Franklin seemed to be the only member of the Menlo-Atherton Bears with a clean jersey.
The grass field at McKinleyville High was slick with the rain that fell off-and-on throughout the night, leaving stains on just about every uniform except Franklin’s.
It wasn’t that he didn’t have a major role in Menlo-Atherton’s second regional championship in three years. It’s just that of the six times he touched the ball, he was only tackled on three of them.
With a pair of receiving touchdowns and a go-ahead 70-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter, it was Franklin’s explosiveness that made the difference in a championship-worthy battle between a talent-packed M-A team and a Eureka team that was able to hang tough despite disadvantages in both physical size and roster size.
With a 20-7 lead into halftime, the Bears looked to be in total control after Eureka (12-1) punted on the opening drive of the third quarter, but after Tyce Mullins recovered a botched handoff, the Loggers found new life and cashed in with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Cruz Montana to Isley Tulmau. Penalties forced Menlo-Atherton (12-2) to punt it back, and the Loggers bridged the third and fourth quarters with a 16-play, 72-yard drive to tie the game, converting a pair of fourth-and-1 situations before Montana finished the drive on an eight-yard option keeper. The extra point went wide left, preventing Eureka from taking the lead for the first time since the opening quarter.
Even if the extra point had been converted, the lead wouldn’t have lasted long. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Matt McLeod pitched to the left and Franklin went untouched for the 70-yard score.
It was the second time on the night that Franklin would provide an immediate answer to a Eureka touchdown. After stopping the Bears’ opening drive on downs, the Loggers drew first blood on Robert Weir’s seven-yard touchdown run. Justin Anderson returned the following kickoff to the 31 and Jack Alexander connected with Franklin on a 69-yard touchdown pass.
Though Eureka would hold the lead for all of 13 seconds on the clock, there was no shortage of drama. After Franklin gave M-A a 27-20 lead, the Loggers turned it over on downs, giving the Bears a short field with a chance to put the game away. Instead, penalties would kill the drive, and the punt took a Eureka bounce and set the hosts up at their own 20.
From there, a series of short passes, including a pair of 13-yard completions from Montana to Weir, brought the Loggers across midfield, and an 11-yard run by Weir brought Eureka down to the 23 with just over two minutes remaining. Montana tried to connect with Tulmau in the back of the end zone, but the pass was just out of his reach and may have carried him beyond the end line even if he had hauled it in. Another incompletion and a 1-yard gain by Alex Miller set up fourth down, and Montana overthrew Tulmau. Eureka would have one last chance after a shanked M-A punt put the Loggers at the 40 with 11 seconds left, but Tulmau was wrapped up by Daniel Heimuli and Joe Posthauer to end the game.
For the second week in a row, the M-A sideline spilled on to the field in celebration, waving flags and sliding in the mud, but this time, it was after protecting a lead rather than mounting a 21-point comeback. Franklin’s first touchdown generated a wave of momentum that the Bears would ride to 20 straight points. Posthauer blew up a fake punt at midfield, setting up Franklin’s second touchdown of the night on a 14-yard completion from Alexander with 2:10 left in the first.
Eureka would force a punt on the next Menlo-Atherton possession, but the Bears got the ball back just one play later as Noa Ngalu stripped Zach Reed after a short gain. It took three more plays for the Bears to open up a two-score lead, with a 20-yard pass to Joey Olshausen, a seven-yard run by Jaeden Barker and a five-yard touchdown run by Deston Hawkins, who was given a huge hole up the middle by his offensive line.
As hinted earlier, emotions ran high throughout the Northern California 3-A Championship, both with events on the field and surrounding it. Heimuli briefly left the game in the fourth quarter after getting chop blocked on Franklin’s go-ahead touchdown, a play that left Ngalu so incensed that he had to be restrained by coaches.
“The way they did it was wrong, and I don’t like to see my brothers getting hurt,” Ngalu said. “I’m always going to defend my brothers.”
While most football teams cite a sense of brotherhood as a source of inspiration, it runs deeper for Menlo-Atherton. In 2016, freshman lineman Aisea Mataele, became sick in early December and died from a still-unknown illness. He would have now been a junior, and he is still listed on the Bears’ roster. No player at Menlo-Atherton has worn the #60 jersey since his passing.
“It was really special for this group to get back to a state game,” said head coach Adhir Ravipati. “Last time we won a NorCal game, Aisea got sick as we were on our run, so this is a chance to bring one back for him.”
